THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
Relations with Russia
Turkey’s new role
Back to Cold War?
EU-Turkey Joint Action
This year’s Munich Security Conference was overshadowed by the failure of world powers to quell the five-year conflict in Syria, the Russian military intervention there, which earned harsh criticism, and the refugee crisis in Europe. Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry A. Medvedev even warned the conference about a looming slide into a new Cold War. Sergey V. Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the In these times of international cri- Russian Federation speaking during the Munich sis and confrontation, we decided Security Conference 2016, 13.02.2016 to give the floor to European, RusPhoto: MSC / Kleinschmidt sian and American experts from the world of politics, NATO and academia to hear how they think Euro-Atlantic/ Russia relations could or should look in the future.
During the last European Council held in Brussels on 18-19 February, European leaders emphasised the importance of the implementation of the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan (activated in November 2015) as a key component of the response to the refugee and migrant crisis. European Council President Donald Tusk announced another summit to be held on 7 March with Turkey’s participation. In addition, European leaders consider it necessary to now put in place the capacity for the EU to provide humanitarian assistance within the EU, in cooperation with organisations such as UNHCR, to support countries faced with large numbers of refugees and migrants. The refugee crisis was also on the agenda of the Brussels Justice and Home Affairs Council of 25 February. Klaas Dijkhoff,
> See our Main Topic starting on page 13
Migration and Refugee crisis
Refugees continue to risk their lives to reach Europe According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, over 80,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016. Over 400 have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Despite harsh winter weather with rougher seas over 2,000 people a day continue to risk their lives and the lives of their children attempting to reach Europe. UNHCR shows concern at the increasingly restrictive measures being taken by European countries with regard to the refugee crisis in Europe.
Mr Klaas Dijkhoff, Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice during the JHA Council, Brussels, 25.02.2016. Photo: © The European Union, 2016
Dutch State Secretary for Security and Justice said: “We can solve this crisis if all member states are ready to work together, as well as work with the countries on the Western Balkan route and with Turkey. Today we confirmed again the importance of cooperating with each other through the exchange of information, by mplementing what has already been agreed, and by assisting each other to do so.” Source: Council of the European Union
Turkey hosts more than 2,5 Million refugees
Photo: EC.ECHO, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
> You will find a statement by UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming on page 10 of this magazine
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> See our Turkey special dossier, notably the article by Elmar Brok MEP addressing the role of Turkey in the refugee crisis (page 25), and by Gerald and Katharina Knaus from the European Stability Initiative who explain that a solution of the crisis is possible (page 26)